“When I was a senior in college I was on all four special teams, even as a starting running back, so I embraced the role when I got here. A lot of people don't do that. but no matter who you are, if (the coach) wants to put you on special teams, you're on there.”

Despite all his experience on kickoffs and punts, Hester's most noteworthy professional play also was a career first for him; he stripped the ball and recovered the fumble on a kickoff at Miami.

For their part, Cason and Tolbert point to plays they made in their NFL debuts as a personal highlight to this point.

Before that last-play touchdown pass by Jake Delhomme beat the Chargers, one of the game heroes looked to be Cason, who stripped Carolina's D.J. Hackett of the ball in the fourth quarter. Shaun Phillips recovered at the Carolina 28 and the Chargers went on to score a go-ahead touchdown.

Much earlier in the same game, the Chargers had begun their second series of the season at their own 1-yard line, and Rivers immediately threw a quick pass on the flat to Tolbert. Nice as the 16-yard pickup and first down were, Tolbert said it was the statement made with that pass that meant more to him.

“That was my first time seeing a game ball in live action, but I got the call,” Tolbert said. “It was just great that they had that kind of faith in me.”

Apparently, he earned it in training camp, coming in the hard way and finding out the hard way about the NFL's school of hard knocks. Specifically, Tolbert remembers (sort of) his real introduction to life as a professional blocking back.

“I'm afraid of only two things – my mom and heights,” Tolbert said. “But when I hit (Chargers linebacker) Tim Dobbins, who's a brick wall, my eyes rolled back in my head and I got dizzy.”

Just as dizzying, said Hester, is all the film work and other forms of preparation for every NFL game. Even after four years at a national-championship program such as LSU, Hester said the attention to detail is astounding.

“Pro football's a lot more mental than I thought it was, that's for sure,” he said. “The smallest things, special teams, is 100 times more mental. We do stuff we didn't even come close to doing in college.

“In college, you just knew what you were doing, especially since I'd also done special teams throughout high school. But at this level, you have to study the guy you're going against, what his tendencies are, what he does in general, what he does in certain situations. I had no idea.”

Invariably, rookies say the difference on the field is the speed of both the players and the game, how you need to get it all to slow down before you can regain confidence in your skills and instincts and just play.

“You still feel like a rookie in the locker room, but after so many games, you kinda get in a groove and feel comfortable when you're playing,” Hester said. “At the end of the day, it's football, a game you've been playing your entire life.”

Hester looked around the locker room and grinned.

“You don't think you're a rookie out there on the field,” he added. “But you definitely feel like a rookie in here.”